11 ⁴ But in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and brought the captains of the Carites and of the guards, and had them come to him in the house of Yahweh; and he made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of Yahweh, and he showed them the king's son. 11 ⁵ And he commanded them, "This is the thing that you shall do: one third of you, those who come off duty on the sabbath and guard the king's house 11 ⁶ (another third being at the gate Sur and a third at the gate behind the guards), shall guard the palace; 11 ⁷ and the two divisions of you, which come on duty in force on the sabbath and guard the house of Yahweh, 11 ⁸ shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand; and whoever approaches the ranks is to be slain. Be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in."

11 ⁹ The captains did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and each brought his men who were to go off duty on the sabbath, with those who were to come on duty on the sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest. 11 ¹⁰ And the priest delivered to the captains the spears and shields that had been King David's, which were in the house of Yahweh; 11 ¹¹ and the guards stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house. 11 ¹² Then he brought out the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they proclaimed him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, "Long live the king!"

11 ¹³ When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she went into the house of Yahweh to the people; 11 ¹⁴ and when she looked, there was the king standing by the pillar, according to the custom, and the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets. And Athaliah rent her clothes, and cried, "Treason! Treason!" 11 ¹⁵ Then Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains who were set over the army, "Bring her out between the ranks; and slay with the sword any one who follows her." For the priest said, "Let her not be slain in the house of Yahweh." 11 ¹⁶ So they laid hands on her; and she went through the horses' entrance to the king's house, and there she was slain. - Jehoiada's reforms.  2Kgs.11.17-21- 2Chr.23.16-21 | KNSB Contents | notes

11 ¹⁷ And Jehoiada made a covenant between Yahweh and the king and people, that they should be Yahweh's people; and also between the king and the people. 11 ¹⁸ Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest posted watchmen over the house of Yahweh. 11 ¹⁹ And he took the captains, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land; and they brought the king down from the house of Yahweh, marching through the gate of the guards to the king's house. And he took his seat on the throne of the kings. 11 ²⁰ So all the people of the land rejoiced; and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been slain with the sword at the king's house.

11 ²¹ Jehoash was seven years old when he bagan to reign. - JOASH king of Judah. (835 BCE)  2Kgs.12.1-21- 2Chr.24.1-16 | KNSB Contents | notes

12 ¹ In the seventh year of Jehu Jehoash began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. 12 ² And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. 12 ³ Nevertheless the high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and burn incense on the high places.

12 ⁴ Jehoash said to the priests, "All the money of the holy things which is brought into the house of Yahweh, the money for which each man is assessed - the money from the assessment of persons - and the money which a man's heart prompts him to bring into the house of Yahweh, 12 ⁵ let the priests take, each from his acquaintance; and let them repair the house wherever any need of repairs is discovered." 12 ⁶ But by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash the priests had made no repairs on the house. 12 ⁷ Therefore King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, "Why are you not repairing the house? Now therefore take no more money from your acquaintances, but hand it over for the repair of the house." 12 ⁸ So the priests agreed that they should take no more money from the people, and that they should not repair the house.

12 ⁹ Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar on the right side as one entered the house of Yahweh; and the priests who guarded the threshold put in it all the money that was brought into the house of Yahweh. 12 ¹⁰ And whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king's secretary and the high priest came up and they counted and tied up in bags the money that was found in the house of Yahweh. 12 ¹¹ Then they would give the money that was weighed out into the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of Yahweh; and they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked upon the house of Yahweh, 12 ¹² and to the masons and the stonecutters, as well as to buy timber and quarried stone for making repairs on the house of Yahweh, and for any outlay upon the repairs of the house. 12 ¹³ But there were not made for the house of Yahweh basins of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, or any vessels of gold, or of silver, from the money that was brought into the house of Yahweh, 12 ¹⁴ for that was given to the workmen who were repairing the house of Yahweh with it. 12 ¹⁵ And they did not ask an accounting from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to pay out to the workmen, for they dealt honestly. 12 ¹⁶ The money from the guilt offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of Yahweh; it belonged to the priests.

12 ¹⁷ At that time Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath, and took it. But when Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem, 12 ¹⁸ Jehoash king of Judah took all the votive gifts that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own votive gifts, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of Yahweh and of the king's house, and sent these to Hazael king of Syria. Then Hazael went away from Jerusalem.

12 ¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 12 ²⁰ His servants arose and made a conspiracy, and slew Joash in the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla. 12 ²¹ It was Jozacar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, who struck him down, so that he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Amaziah his son reigned in his stead. - JEHOAHAZ king of Israel. (821 BCE)  2Kgs.13.1-9

13 ¹ In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years. 13 ² He did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from them. 13 ³ And the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael. 13 ⁴ Then Jehoahaz besought Yahweh, and Yahweh hearkened to him; for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them. 13 ⁵ (Therefore Yahweh gave Israel a saviour, so that they escaped from the hand of the Syrians; and the people of Israel dwelt in their homes as formerly. 13 ⁶ Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin, but walked in them; and the Asherah also remained in Samaria.) 13 ⁷ For there was not left to Jehoahaz an army of more than fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing. 13 ⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 13 ⁹ So Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria; and Joash his son reigned in his stead. - JEHOASH king of Israel. (804 BCE)  2Kgs.13.10-13

13 ¹⁰ In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years. 13 ¹¹ He also did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin, but he walked in them. 13 ¹² Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and the might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 13 ¹³ So Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat upon his throne; and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. - Death of the prophet Elisha.  2Kgs.13.14-21

13 ¹⁴ Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him, and wept before him, crying, "My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" 13 ¹⁵ And Elisha said to him, "Take a bow and arrows"; so he took a bow and arrows. 13 ¹⁶ Then he said to the king of Israel, "Draw the bow"; and he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands upon the king's hands. 13 ¹⁷ And he said, "Open the window eastward"; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot"; and he shot. And he said, "Yahweh's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in Aphek until you have made an end of them." 13 ¹⁸ And he said, "Take the arrows"; and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground with them"; and he struck three times, and stopped. 13 ¹⁹ Then the man of God was angry with him, and said, "You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times."

13 ²⁰ So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. 13 ²¹ And as a man was being buried, lo, a marauding band was seen and the man was cast into the grave of Elisha; and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood on his feet. - Israel's gains in the war with Syria.  2Kgs.13.22-25

13 ²² Now Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. 13 ²³ But Yahweh was gracious to them and had compassion on them, and he turned toward them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them; nor has he cast them from his presence until now.

13 ²⁴ When Hazael king of Syria died, Ben-hadad his son became king in his stead. 13 ²⁵ Then Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again from Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken from Jehoahaz his father in war. Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel. - AMAZIAH king of Judah. (795 BCE)  2Kgs.14.1-16- 2Chr.25.1-24 | KNSB Contents | notes

14 ¹ In the second year of Joash the son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign. 14 ² He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. 14 ³ And he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, yet not like David his father; he did in all things as Joash his father had done. 14 ⁴ But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. 14 ⁵ And as soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand he killed his servants who had slain the king his father. 14 ⁶ But he did not put to death the children of the murderers; according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses, where Yahweh commanded, "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, or the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall die for his own sin."

14 ⁷ He killed ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela by storm, and called it Jokthe-el, which is its name to this day.

14 ⁸ Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, "Come, let us look one another in the face." 14 ⁹ And Jehoash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, "A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son for a wife'; and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. 14 ¹⁰ You have indeed smitten Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home; for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?"

14 ¹¹ But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another in battle at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 14 ¹² And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his home. 14 ¹³ And Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. 14 ¹⁴ And he seized all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasuries of the king's house, also hostages, and he returned to Samaria.

14 ¹⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 14 ¹⁶ And Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead. - Death of Amaziah.  2Kgs.14.17-22- 2Chr.25.25-28 | KNSB Contents | notes

14 ¹⁷ Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. 14 ¹⁸ Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 14 ¹⁹ And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there. 14 ²⁰ And they brought him upon horses; and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. 14 ²¹ And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. 14 ²² He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers. - JEROBOAM (2) king of Israel. (788 BCE)  2Kgs.14.23-29

14 ²³ In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. 14 ²⁴ And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. 14 ²⁵ He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Yahweh, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. 14 ²⁶ For Yahweh saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. 14 ²⁷ But Yahweh had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

14 ²⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he recovered for Israel Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 14 ²⁹ And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and Zechariah his son reigned in his stead. - UZZIAH/AZARIAH king of Judah. (786 BCE)  2Kgs.15.1-7

15 ¹ In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel Azariah the son of Amaziah, king of Judah, began to reign. 15 ² He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. 15 ³ And he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. 15 ⁴ Nevertheless the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. 15 ⁵ And Yahweh smote the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death, and he dwelt in a separate house. And Jotham the king's son was over the household, governing the people of the land. 15 ⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 15 ⁷ And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Jotham his son reigned in his stead. - ZECHARIAH king of Israel. (747 BCE)  2Kgs.15.8-12

15 ⁸ In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months. 15 ⁹ And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as his fathers had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. 15 ¹⁰ Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and struck him down at Ibleam, and killed him, and reigned in his stead. 15 ¹¹ Now the rest of the deeds of Zechariah, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 15 ¹² (This was the promise of Yahweh which he gave to Jehu, "Your sons shall sit upon the throne of Israel to the fourth generation." And so it came to pass.) - SHALLUM king of Israel. (747 BCE)  2Kgs.15.13-16

15 ¹³ Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned one month in Samaria. 15 ¹⁴ Then Menahem the son of Gadi came up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and he struck down Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria and slew him, and reigned in his stead. 15 ¹⁵ Now the rest of the deeds of Shallum, and the conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 15 ¹⁶ At that time Menahem sacked Tappuah and all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah on; because they did not open it to him, therefore he sacked it, and he ripped up all the women in it who were with child. - MENAHEM king of Israel. (747 BCE)  2Kgs.15.17-22

15 ¹⁷ In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah Menahem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel, and he reigned ten years in Samaria. 15 ¹⁸ And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh; he did not depart all his days from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. 15 ¹⁹ Pul the king of Assyria came against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that he might help him to confirm his hold of the royal power. 15 ²⁰ Menahem exacted the money from Israel, that is, from all the wealthy men, fifty shekels of silver from every man, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and did not stay there in the land. 15 ²¹ Now the rest of the deeds of Menahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 15 ²² And Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son reigned in his stead. - PEKAHIAH king of Israel. (737 BCE)  2Kgs.15.23-26

15 ²³ In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned two years. 15 ²⁴ And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh; he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. 15 ²⁵ And Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him with fifty men of the Gileadites, and slew him in Samaria, in the citadel of the king's house; he slew him, and reigned in his stead. 15 ²⁶ Now the rest of the deeds of Pekahiah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. - PEKAH king of Israel. (735 BCE)  2Kgs.15.27-31

15 ²⁷ In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years. 15 ²⁸ And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.

15 ²⁹ In the days of Pekah king of Israel Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried the people captive to Assyria. 15 ³⁰ Then Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck him down, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. 15 ³¹ Now the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. - JOTHAM king of Judah. (744 BCE)  2Kgs.15.32-38- 2Chr.27.1-9 | KNSB Contents | notes

15 ³² In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign. 15 ³³ He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. 15 ³⁴ And he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that his father Uzziah had done. 15 ³⁵ Nevertheless the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of Yahweh. 15 ³⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 15 ³⁷ In those days Yahweh began to send Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah. 15 ³⁸ Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead. - AHAZ king of Judah. (741 BCE)  2Kgs.16.1-20- 2Chr.28.1-27 | KNSB Contents | notes

16 ¹ In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. 16 ² Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of Yahweh his God, as his father David had done, 16 ³ but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom Yahweh drove out before the people of Israel. 16 ⁴ And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

16 ⁵ Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. 16 ⁶ At that time the king of Edom recovered Elath for Edom, and drove the men of Judah from Elath; and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day. 16 ⁷ So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, "I am your servant and your son. Come up, and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me." 16 ⁸ Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria. 16 ⁹ And the king of Assyria hearkened to him; the king of Assyria marched up against Damascus, and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin.

16 ¹⁰ When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. 16 ¹¹ And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. 16 ¹² And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar, and went up on it, 16 ¹³ and burned his burnt offering and his cereal offering, and poured his drink offering, and threw the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar. 16 ¹⁴ And the bronze altar which was before Yahweh he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of Yahweh, and put it on the north side of his altar. 16 ¹⁵ And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, "Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening cereal offering, and the king's burnt offering, and his cereal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their cereal offering, and their drink offering; and throw upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice; but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by." 16 ¹⁶ Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded.

16 ¹⁷ And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands, and removed the laver from them, and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pediment of stone. 16 ¹⁸ And the covered way for the sabbath which had been built inside the palace, and the outer entrance for the king he removed from the house of Yahweh, because of the king of Assyria. 16 ¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 16 ²⁰ And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead. - HOSHEA king of Israel. (733 BCE)  2Kgs.17.1-4

17 ¹ In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. 17 ² And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. 17 ³ Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his vassal, and paid him tribute. 17 ⁴ But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. - SHALMANEZER - Assyria. The Fall of Samaria. Deportation. (732 BCE)  2Kgs.17.5-23

17 ⁵ Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it. 17 ⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

17 ⁷ And this was so, because the people of Israel had sinned against Yahweh their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods 17 ⁸ and walked in the customs of the nations whom Yahweh drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs which the kings of Israel had introduced. 17 ⁹ And the people of Israel did secretly against Yahweh their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places at all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city; 17 ¹⁰ they set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree; 17 ¹¹ and there they burned incense on all the high places, as the nations did whom Yahweh carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking Yahweh to anger, 17 ¹² and they served idols, of which Yahweh had said to them, "You shall not do this." 17 ¹³ Yet Yahweh warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets." 17 ¹⁴ But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in Yahweh their God. 17 ¹⁵ They despised his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and the warnings which he gave them. They went after false idols, and became false, and they followed the nations that were round about them, concerning whom Yahweh had commanded them that they should not do like them. 17 ¹⁶ And they forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and made for themselves molten images of two calves; and they made an Asherah, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. 17 ¹⁷ And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings, and used divination and sorcery, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of Yahweh, provoking him to anger. 17 ¹⁸ Therefore Yahweh was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight; none was left but the tribe of Judah only.

17 ¹⁹ Judah also did not keep the commandments of Yahweh their God, but walked in the customs which Israel had introduced. 17 ²⁰ And Yahweh rejected all the descendants of Israel, and afflicted them, and gave them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

17 ²¹ When he had torn Israel from the house of David they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following Yahweh and made them commit great sin. 17 ²² The people of Israel walked in all the sins which Jeroboam did; they did not depart from them, 17 ²³ until Yahweh removed Israel out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day. - Israel a province of the Assyrian Empire.  2Kgs.17.24-41

17 ²⁴ And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sephar-vaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria, and dwelt in its cities. 17 ²⁵ And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear Yahweh; therefore Yahweh sent lions among them, which killed some of them. 17 ²⁶ So the king of Assyria was told, "The nations which you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land; therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land." 17 ²⁷ Then the king of Assyria commanded, "Send there one of the priests whom you carried away thence; and let him go and dwell there, and teach them the law of the god of the land." 17 ²⁸ So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear Yahweh.

17 ²⁹ But every nation still made gods of its own, and put them in the shrines of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they dwelt; 17 ³⁰ the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, 17 ³¹ and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 17 ³² They also feared Yahweh, and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. 17 ³³ So they feared Yahweh but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. 17 ³⁴ To this day they do according to the former manner.

They do not fear Yahweh, and they do not follow the statutes or the ordinances or the law or the commandment which Yahweh commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel. 17 ³⁵ Yahweh made a covenant with them, and commanded them, "You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them; 17 ³⁶ but you shall fear Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm; you shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. 17 ³⁷ And the statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment which he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods, 17 ³⁸ and you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods, 17 ³⁹ but you shall fear Yahweh your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies." 17 ⁴⁰ However they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner.

17 ⁴¹ So these nations feared Yahweh, and also served their graven images; their children likewise, and their children's children - as their fathers did, so they do to this day. - HEZEKIAH king of Judah. (725 BCE)  2Kgs.18.1-12- 2Chr.29.1-2, 2Chr.29.31.1 | KNSB Contents | notes

18 ¹ In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 18 ² He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. 18 ³ And he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that David his father had done. 18 ⁴ He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had burned incense to it; it was called Nehushtan. 18 ⁵ He trusted in Yahweh the God of Israel; so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. 18 ⁶ For he held fast to Yahweh; he did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments which Yahweh commanded Moses. 18 ⁷ And Yahweh was with him; wherever he went forth, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria, and would not serve him. 18 ⁸ He smote the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

18 ⁹ In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it 18 ¹⁰ and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. 18 ¹¹ The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 18 ¹² because they did not obey the voice of Yahweh their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded; they neither listened nor obeyed. - The Assyrians threaten Jerusalem.  2Kgs.18.13-36- 2Chr.32.1-19, Is.36.1-22 | KNSB Contents | notes

18 ¹³ In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 18 ¹⁴ And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong; withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me I will bear." And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 18 ¹⁵ And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of Yahweh, and in the treasuries of the king's house. 18 ¹⁶ At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of Yahweh, and from the doorposts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. 18 ¹⁷ And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Fuller's Field. 18 ¹⁸ And when they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

18 ¹⁹ And the Rabshakeh said to them, "Say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this confidence of yours? 18 ²⁰ Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? On whom do you now rely, that you have rebelled against me? 18 ²¹ Behold, you are relying now on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 18 ²² But if you say to me, "We rely on Yahweh our God," is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, "You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem"? 18 ²³ Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders upon them. 18 ²⁴ How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 18 ²⁵ Moreover, is it without Yahweh that I have come up against this place to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.' "

18 ²⁶ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, "Pray, speak to your servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it; do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall." 18 ²⁷ But the Rabshakeh said to them, "Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?"

18 ²⁸ Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 18 ²⁹ Thus says the king: 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand. 18 ³⁰ Do not let Hezekiah make you to rely on Yahweh by saying, Yahweh will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.' 18 ³¹ Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: 'Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat of his own vine, and every one of his own fig tree, and every one of you will drink the water of his own cistern; 18 ³² until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, Yahweh will deliver us. 18 ³³ Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 18 ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 18 ³⁵ Who among all the gods of the countries have delivered their countries out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?"

18 ³⁶ But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, "Do not answer him." 18 ³⁷ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh. - Hezekiah seeks advice from the prophet Isaiah.  2Kgs.19.1-7- Is.37.1-7 | KNSB Contents | notes

19 ¹ When King Hezekiah heard it, he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Yahweh. 19 ² And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 19 ³ They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 19 ⁴ It may be that Yahweh your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left." 19 ⁵ When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 19 ⁶ Isaiah said to them, "Say to your master, 'Thus says Yahweh: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 19 ⁷ Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.' " - The Assyrians send a further threat.  2Kgs.19.8-19- Is.37.8-20 | KNSB Contents | notes

19 ⁸ The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he heard that the king had left Lachish. 19 ⁹ And when the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, "Behold, he has set out to fight against you," he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 19 ¹⁰ "Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: 'Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 19 ¹¹ Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. And shall you be delivered? 19 ¹² Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations which my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? 19 ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?"

19 ¹⁴ Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of Yahweh, and spread it before Yahweh. 19 ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh, and said: " O Yahweh the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 19 ¹⁶ Incline your ear, O Yahweh, and hear; open your eyes, O Yahweh, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 19 ¹⁷ Of a truth, O Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 19 ¹⁸ and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; therefore they were destroyed. 19 ¹⁹ So now, O Yahweh our God, save us, I beseech you, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Yahweh, are God alone." - Isaiah's message to king Hezekiah.  2Kgs.19.20-37

19 ²⁰ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. 19 ²¹ This is the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him:

19 ²⁹ "And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same; then in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 19 ³⁰ And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward; 19 ³¹ for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of Yahweh will do this.

19 ³² "Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 19 ³³ By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, says Yahweh. 19 ³⁴ For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David."

19 ³⁵ And that night the angel of Yahweh went forth, and slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 19 ³⁶ Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went home, and dwelt at Nineveh. 19 ³⁷ And as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, slew him with the sword, and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead. - Hezekiah's illness & recovery.  2Kgs.20.1-19- 2Chr.32.24-26, Is.38.1-8, Is.38.21-22 | KNSB Contents | notes

20 ¹ In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Set your house in order; for you shall die, you shall not recover.' " 20 ² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yahweh, saying, 20 ³ "Remember now, O Yahweh, I beseech you, how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 20 ⁴ And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of Yahweh came to him: 20 ⁵ "Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the prince of my people, Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of Yahweh. 20 ⁶ And I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake." 20 ⁷ And Isaiah said, "Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover."

20 ⁸ And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "What shall be the sign that Yahweh will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh on the third day?" 20 ⁹ And Isaiah said, "This is the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?" 20 ¹⁰ And Hezekiah answered, "It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps; rather let the shadow go back ten steps." 20 ¹¹ And Isaiah the prophet cried to Yahweh; and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which the sun had declined on the dial of Ahaz.

20 ¹² At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 20 ¹³ And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses; there was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 20 ¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say? And whence did they come to you?" And Hezekiah said, "They have come from a far country, from Babylon." 20 ¹⁵ He said, "What have they seen in your house?" And Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them."

20 ¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of Yahweh: 20 ¹⁷ Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says Yahweh. 20 ¹⁸ And some of your own sons, who are born to you, shall be taken away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." 20 ¹⁹ Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "The word of Yahweh which you have spoken is good." For he thought, "Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?" - Hezekiah - conclusion of his reign.  2Kgs.20.20-21- 2Chr.32.32-33 | KNSB Contents | notes

20 ²⁰ The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 20 ²¹ And Hezakiah slept with his fathers; and Manasshe his son reigned in his stead. - MANASSEH king of Judah. (696 BCE)  2Kgs.21.1-18- 2Chr.33.1-20 | KNSB Contents | notes

21 ¹ Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah. 21 ² And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom Yahweh drove out before the people of Israel. 21 ³ For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he erected altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. 21 ⁴ And he built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh had said, "In Jerusalem will I put my name." 21 ⁵ And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Yahweh. 21 ⁶ And he burned his son as an offering, and practiced soothsaying and augury, and dealt with mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of Yahweh, provoking him to anger. 21 ⁷ And the graven image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which Yahweh said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for ever; 21 ⁸ and I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them." 21 ⁹ But they did not listen, and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations had done whom Yahweh destroyed before the people of Israel.

21 ¹⁰ And Yahweh said by his servants the prophets, 21 ¹¹ "Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations, and has done things more wicked than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols; 21 ¹² therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such evil that the ears of every one who hears of it will tingle. 21 ¹³ And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 21 ¹⁴ And I will cast off the remnant of my heritage, and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, 21 ¹⁵ because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day."

21 ¹⁶ Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin which he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh.

21 ¹⁷ Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 21 ¹⁸ And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza; and Amon his son reigned in his stead. - AMON king of Judah. (641 BCE)  2Kgs.21.19-26- 2Chr.33.21-25 | KNSB Contents | notes

21 ¹⁹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 21 ²⁰ And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as Manasseh his father had done. 21 ²¹ He walked in all the way in which his father walked, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them; 21 ²² he forsook Yahweh, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of Yahweh. 21 ²³ And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and killed the king in his house. 21 ²⁴ But the people of the land slew all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead. 21 ²⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 21 ²⁶ And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza; and Josiah his son reigned in his stead. - JOSIAH king of Judah. (639 BCE)  2Kgs.22.1-2- 2Chr.34.1-2 | KNSB Contents | notes

22 ¹ Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. 22 ² And he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. - Discovery of the book of the Law.  2Kgs.22.3-20- 2Chr.34.8-28 | KNSB Contents | notes

22 ³ In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of Yahweh, saying, 22 ⁴ "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may reckon the amount of the money which has been brought into the house of Yahweh, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people; 22 ⁵ and let it be given into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of Yahweh; and let them give it to the workmen who are at the house of Yahweh, repairing the house, 22 ⁶ that is, to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, as well as for buying timber and quarried stone to repair the house. 22 ⁷ But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money which is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly."

22 ⁸ And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the book of the law in the house of Yahweh." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 22 ⁹ And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, "Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of Yahweh." 22 ¹⁰ Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read it before the king.

22 ¹¹ And when the king heard the words of the book of the law, he rent his clothes. 22 ¹² And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, 22 ¹³ "Go, inquire of Yahweh for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of Yahweh that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us."

22 ¹⁴ So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter); and they talked with her. 22 ¹⁵ And she said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'Tell the man who sent you to me, 22 ¹⁶ Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read. 22 ¹⁷ Because they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched. 22 ¹⁸ But as to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Yahweh, thus shall you say to him, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Regarding the words which you have heard, 22 ¹⁹ because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh, when you heard how I spoke against this place, and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have rent your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says Yahweh. 22 ²⁰ Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place.' " And they brought back word to the king. - Josiah's reforms.  2Kgs.23.1-20- 2Chr.34.3-7, 2Chr.34.29-33 | KNSB Contents | notes

23 ¹ Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. 23 ² And the king went up to the house of Yahweh, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of Yahweh. 23 ³ And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book; and all the people joined in the covenant.

23 ⁴ And the king commanded Hilkiah, the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the temple of Yahweh all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 23 ⁵ And he deposed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places at the cities of Judah and round about Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and the moon, and the constellations, and all the host of the heavens. 23 ⁶ And he brought out the Asherah from the house of Yahweh, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. 23 ⁷ And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes which were in the house of Yahweh, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. 23 ⁸ And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one's left at the gate of the city. 23 ⁹ However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of Yahweh in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren. 23 ¹⁰ And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech. 23 ¹¹ And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of Yahweh, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 23 ¹² And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Yahweh, he pulled down and broke in pieces, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. 23 ¹³ And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 23 ¹⁴ And he broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men.

23 ¹⁵ Moreover the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and he broke in pieces its stones, crushing them to dust; also he burned the Asherah. 23 ¹⁶ And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount; and he sent and took the bones out of the tombs, and burned them upon the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of Yahweh which the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. 23 ¹⁷ Then he said, "What is yonder monument that I see?" And the men of the city told him, "It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things which you have done against the altar at Bethel." 23 ¹⁸ And he said, "Let him be; let no man move his bones." So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. 23 ¹⁹ And all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking Yahweh to anger, Josiah removed; he did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. 23 ²⁰ And he slew all the priests of the high places who were there, upon the altars, and burned the bones of men upon them. Then he returned to Jerusalem. - Josiah celebrates the passover.  2Kgs.23.21-23- 2Chr.35.1-19 | KNSB Contents | notes

23 ²¹ And the king commanded all the people, "Keep the passover to Yahweh your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant." 23 ²² For no such passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah; 23 ²³ but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this passover was kept to Yahweh in Jerusalem. - Josiah's other reforms.  2Kgs.23.24-27

23 ²⁴ Moreover Josiah put away the mediums and the wizards and the teraphim and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of Yahweh. 23 ²⁵ Before him there was no king like him, who turned to Yahweh with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.

23 ²⁶ Still Yahweh did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. 23 ²⁷ And Yahweh said, "I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there." - The end of Josiah's reign.  2Kgs.23.28-30- 2Chr.35.20-36-1 | KNSB Contents | notes

23 ²⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 23 ²⁹ In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him; and Pharaoh Neco slew him at Megiddo, when he saw him. 23 ³⁰ And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead. - JOAHAZ king of Judah.  2Kgs.23.31-34- 2Chr.36.2-4 | KNSB Contents | notes

23 ³¹ Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 23 ³² And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that his fathers had done. 23 ³³ And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid upon the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 23 ³⁴ And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away; and he came to Egypt, and died there. - JEHOIAKIM king of Judah. (608 BCE)  2Kgs.23.34-24.7- 2Chr.36.5-8 | KNSB Contents | notes

23 ³⁶ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 23 ³⁷ And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that his fathers had done.

24 ¹ In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years; then he turned and rebelled against him. 24 ² And Yahweh sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke by his servants the prophets. 24 ³ Surely this came upon Judah at the command of Yahweh, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, 24 ⁴ and also for the innocent blood that he had shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and Yahweh would not pardon. 24 ⁵ Now the rest of the deeds of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 24 ⁶ So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead. 24 ⁷ And the king of Egypt did not come again out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates. - JEHOIACHIN king of Judah. (597 BCE)  2Kgs.24.8-17- 2Chr.36.9-10 | KNSB Contents | notes

24 ⁸ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 24 ⁹ And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that his father had done.

24 ¹⁰ At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. 24 ¹¹ And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it; 24 ¹² and Jehoiachin the king of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his palace officials. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign, 24 ¹³ and carried off all the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of Yahweh, which Solomon king of Israel had made, as Yahweh had foretold. 24 ¹⁴ He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, except the poorest people of the land. 24 ¹⁵ And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; the king's mother, the king's wives, his officials, and the chief men of the land, he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 24 ¹⁶ And the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand, all of them strong and fit for war. 24 ¹⁷ And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's uncle, king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah. - JEDEKIAH king of Judah. (597 BCE)  2Kgs.24.18-20- 2Chr.36.11-12, Jr.52.1-3 | KNSB Contents | notes

24 ¹⁸ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 24 ¹⁹ And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 24 ²⁰ For because of the anger of Yahweh it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence.

And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. - The fall of Jerusalem. (586 BCE)  2Kgs.25.1-7- 2Chr.36.13-21, Jr.52.3-11 | KNSB Contents | notes

25 ¹ And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it; and they built siegeworks against it round about. 25 ² So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 25 ³ On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 25 ⁴ Then a breach was made in the city; the king with all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the king's garden, though the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. 25 ⁵ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. 25 ⁶ Then they captured the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, who passed sentence upon him. 25 ⁷ They slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, and took him to Babylon. - Destruction of the first temple.  2Kgs.25.8-17- Jr.52.12-23 | KNSB Contents | notes

25 ⁸ In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month - which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon -Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 25 ⁹ And he burned the house of Yahweh, and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. 25 ¹⁰ And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. 25 ¹¹ And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile. 25 ¹² But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

25 ¹³ And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of Yahweh, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of Yahweh, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried the bronze to Babylon. 25 ¹⁴ And they took away the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service, 25 ¹⁵ the firepans also, and the bowls. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver. 25 ¹⁶ As for the two pillars, the one sea, and the stands, which Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh, the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight. 25 ¹⁷ The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and upon it was a capital of bronze; the height of the capital was three cubits; a network and pomegranates, all of bronze, were upon the capital round about. And the second pillar had the like, with the network. - Deportation of the people of Judah.  2Kgs.25.18-21- Jr.52.24-27 | KNSB Contents | notes

25 ¹⁸ And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold; 25 ¹⁹ and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and five men of the king's council who were found in the city; and the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city. 25 ²⁰ And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 25 ²¹ And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile out of its land. - GEDALIAH Governor of the Chaldean Province of Judah. (586 BCE)  2Kgs.25.22-26- Jr.40.7-9, Jr.41.1-3 | KNSB Contents | notes

25 ²² And over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, he appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, governor.

25 ²³ Now when all the captains of the forces in the open country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah governor, they came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah, namely, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite. 25 ²⁴ And Gedaliah swore to them and their men, saying, "Do not be afraid because of the Chaldean officials; dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you." 25 ²⁵ But in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men, and attacked and killed Gedaliah and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. 25 ²⁶ Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces arose, and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans. - Jehoiachin released from prison.  2Kgs.25.27-30- Jr.52.31-34 | KNSB Contents | notes

25 ²⁷ And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison; 25 ²⁸ and he spoke kindly to him, and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 25 ²⁹ So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table; 25 ³⁰ and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, every day a portion, as long as he lived.